


Is the silence worth it?

by EstelleDusk



Series: Stobotnik but they don't say it [4]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: M/M, Post Movie, Pre-Relationship, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23515441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelleDusk/pseuds/EstelleDusk
Summary: Robotnik was gone, and Agent Stone had to be clever.He had feign ignorance, he had to be useful.Most importantly, he had to sit quietly and wait.
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik/Agent Stone (if you squint)
Series: Stobotnik but they don't say it [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692025
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Hold

**Author's Note:**

> I got a comment on my other Stobotnik fic, and I realized I hadn't thought much at all about Post Movie, so I sat down and thought and wrote.
> 
> And, as with the last one, since the ship isn't actually a thing, I haven't tagged it. But do enter these pieces with the knowledge that they're in love and adamantly refuse to say anything

They tried to wipe him under the rug. Forget about Dr Ivo Robotnik completely. They had made a decent effort of it, paying off anyone they couldn’t afford to silence permanently.

Agent Stone was one of those people. They had tried to silence him and be done with Robotnik. They hadn’t expected the Doctor’s technology to defend him. They thought it would have been a simple thing to do. But it hadn’t been. And they suffered for it.

The government learned that the self destruct sequences in Robotnik’s devices, that they had attempted to trip so they could remove all evidence of the doctor’s existence in one go. Well, they weren’t  _ self _ destruct switches. Only Stone had been allowed close enough to disable it. He had walked in, surrounded by the egg-shaped robots, and then he had been allowed by the lab to turn off all the missiles pointed at the pentagon.

After that first attempt to forget everything associated with the Doctor, and with the missiles reactivation days later, the government quickly learned that if they wanted to keep the world safe, they had to ensure Agent Stone remained on the payroll. At least until they could figure out how to permanently disable the technology that had been threatening them randomly since the Doctor’s disappearance

At one point, they tried to ask the permanently smiling agent. Why did the systems keep targeting them? Why did he have access to the security codes needed to turn them off? Why would Robotnik trust the agent so closely?

Stone smiled at the people now signing his checks, and simply reminded them how long it’s been since the Doctor needed a replacement head henchman. And if he implied that the constant having to disable the missiles wasn’t new and in fact something he had been watching Robotnik do for years on a random schedule? Well, as long as they believed that, he was safe. It’s not like they had access to the history of missile launches. They’d never see that Stone had simply adjusted the containment procedures for the weapons.

He was sure the Doctor wouldn’t mind his trick. Ivo had done worse to others. He had actually launched robots at people he didn’t like. Stone had been tempted to do the same. He had just enough control over the badniks that he would have at least been able to take over a major city. But this was safer.

Getting a nice fat paycheck every two weeks.

Having government authorized visits to the Doctor’s labs across the world.

Not having to worry about waking up without a neck.

Stone just had to wait for his Doctor’s eventual return from the portal he had been thrust through. It was something he didn’t doubt would happen, he personally gave it a year. If only because Robotnik wouldn’t have any of his normal toys and tools with him. Doctor Robotnik had rewired a flying machine to use a new alien power source in only a few hours. He had faith in the Doctor.

He had to.


	2. Your

It was Day 87 since Doctor Robotnik’s disappearance. 2 months, 25 days, and, Stone glanced at the digital clock by his bedside, it flashed an ungodly time before the sun rose, 5 hours and 16 minutes. Not long at all. Just a normal amount of time to be separate from the Doctor due to some operation. This is normal.

Staring at the clock some more, Stone sat up. He pressed his back against the head of the bed, then stuck his gloved fingers in his mouth, holding his tongue. His eyes closed and he tried to pretend. He didn’t snatch these gloves from Robotnik’s drawers for no reason. He borrowed them to remind himself how it had felt. To have a powerful man with his life in his hands.

He imagined he said something he wasn’t allowed to. Like how he worried over the Doctor’s health. Thought maybe the Doctor should get some rest. That he cared about such a brilliant man. Those were the times Doctor Robotnik had held Stone’s tongue, forcibly stopping any admittance of feelings.

The urge to say something was strong, and he held his tongue tighter.

When he finally let go of himself, he immediately wiped his face of any tears.

It’s been almost 3 months since their song and dance. Since the last time his Doctor stopped him from admitting anything. Since his Doctor hid his own feelings behind yelled compliments. He was so tired of this farce. Of pretending everything was okay.

But it wasn’t okay.

With Ivo’s disappearance, came his erasure from the world.

With his erasure, went Stone’s reason to smile.

He should have gone with him, he should have squeezed into the prototype flier, backseat drove.  _ Something _ . Instead he drove the lab to San Francisco, watching the GPS tracker in the flier to make sure he went to the right building.

Robotnik had said no to his request to be on a call with him while he confronted the blue hedgehog-like alien. He said he needed to keep all his wits about himself, not get distracted by a voice in his ear. So Stone had taken the wheel of the lab, and agreed to meet up with him. And of course, make sure he had lattes ready.

It was supposed to be an easy drive.

Then the flier’s GPS seemingly short-circuited.

It claimed the Doctor was in France. China. Egypt. Well known coordinates too, Wonders of the World.

Stone had chosen to park the mobile lab right where it was, off the side of the road, and watch the GPS. Once the flier’s GPS was completely gone, not broken, not offline, just gone, Stone realized something had happened. And he drove all the way back to Green Hills, Montana. The last place the GPS said he had been.

He had run through all the scenarios that could have happened. Activated the badniks to scout ahead and ensure no one stopped him. Ivo’s babies listened to him, all he had to say was Find Daddy, Avoid Uncle Sam.

It was a protocol that had allowed Stone to take control of the base. Because of course Robotnik never trusted the people signing his checks, but he trusted Agent Stone. He trusted the man he shoved and pushed around. The man he told everyone was just a secretary, someone to make him feel good about himself by at least being able to make a good coffee.

That man now sat on his bed some time past one a.m., trying to find the energy to continue waiting for his Doctor to come home.


	3. Tongue

Day 132.

Stone smiled as he walked into the parking lot Uncle Sam ordered him to park the mobile base in all those months ago. He nodded at Jane, the sentry for the hour, got a smile and a wave right back. After so much time, simply coming back and forth, you tend to form a simple rapport with the people you see every day.

Even if you never say more than hi, giving the occasional “extra” donut to whomever’s shift it was to make sure Stone was only powering down the daily threat of missiles.

He still made sure to be on good standing with those soldiers. And they were soldiers, not agents. Simple military dogs, trained to fight, but not trained to subtly dismantle a government. No, that was Stone, Agent Stone, trained to turn an army against their general. Trained to be Robotnik’s personal dictionary on human emotions and habits to prevent any PR disaster from the good Doctor saying the wrong thing to someone.

So of course he employed the same tactics here. Gain the love and adoration of the staff stuck doing seemingly useless jobs. And one day… when the Doctor finds his way home… Stone will have gathered enough intel to get revenge on Uncle Sam for how they erased Robotnik.

As Stone removed a cold weather glove, placing a bare hand on the biometric scanner of the mobile lab, he shivered. Maybe he should have grabbed that thicker coat on the way out this morning. But he expected this trip to be short and sweet as always. He hadn’t even brought any small talk topics for the guards to listen to. He changed his mind once he stepped into the warm entry way of the lab. 

A quick text to Jane outside, and a laughter emoji later, everyone on the base would know Stone chose to hide from the cold in the warm base. He’s done this so often since winter came early that he didn’t even expect any soldiers to come check on him at least until lunch. He’ll just dust the robots until then, maybe let them have a little flight. As a treat.

He was still smiling as he walked up to the rows of robots, patting one on the top.

“Good morning, little badniks.” He wiped the lens with a gloved hand, before pulling off the wool gloves and reaching into his pocket for the control gloves.

“Stone! Is that you?”

The gloves fell from his hands as did his casual smile. His eyes went wide and he swallowed. That voice sounded like the Doctor. But if the Doctor had gotten back, surely he would have been stopped and told?

“You’re late! You should have been here at 6am and not a minute later!”

Maybe it was a VR protocol that hadn’t activated until now? But it sounded so real. Maybe it’s a recording? Did he accidentally activate a recording?

“Stone, I’m not paying you to look at the ground. And you dropped my gloves. Hurry up and get them on and get over here before I fire you!”

He looked at the main computer, mouth still open as he stared at the face on the screen. He looked different, but Stone would never forget those eyes, that voice. Doctor Robotnik found a way to call home. Oh, how long had the call been open? How long had the Doctor been waiting for Stone to attend to him?

He looked back down at the ground just to make sure he got both control gloves. Then he pulled them on and walked to the main computer. He looked at the screen and carefully pressed buttons to do as he wished.

“Computer, Operation Find Daddy is complete. Doctor Robotnik…” Stone looked up at the computer, still amazed that he finally had proof he hadn’t imagined the Doctor all this time. And now they can get back to work. They can--

Stone’s eyes widened more as he stared at the  _ image _ of his Doctor, realizing his words can’t be stopped now. He smiled and fell into the chair and continued to stare at the Doctor’s raised eyebrow.

“What? What is it? Is there something on my face?” The Doctor rubbed at his face, then his now-bald head.

“You’re alive, Ivo. You’ll be home soon, won’t you?” He could have mentioned the ratty mustache on Robotnik’s upper lip, but he found he didn’t care. He could say anything he wanted now. His Doctor wouldn’t silence him as he always had the moment he showed he cared.

“Stop that, remember where you are, Stone.” The image of Doctor Robotnik got closer to whatever passed for a camera on another world, his eyes up close.

“I’m in your lab, in your chair, waiting for you to come home to me and your badniks.” He felt the weight on his back, the anxiety, all just fall off and disappear. Everything would be fine now.

“Stone. Hold your tongue.”

“No.”

“You  _ will _ hold your tongue before I have to get over there and…” Robotnik trailed off, possibly because of how visibly excited Stone was getting. The more the agent thought about it, there was really no reason anymore to keep silent and hide any feelings. So he didn’t.

“Sir, whenever you give the word, I will transfer full ownership back to you and then we can figure out what to do to Uncle Sam. They tried their hardest to get control of your work, but in the end we figured out a way to keep them away.” He paused, licking his lips and wondering if he was really going to say it finally.

“...Good! Continue Operation Avoid Uncle Sam, keep this channel open. And I  _ fully _ expect you to be here for your normal working hours with me. I don’t care if you have some  _ hot date _ to get to, or  _ friends _ to get drunk with, you will be here from 6am to 9pm as  _ always _ ! Got that, Agent Stone?” Stone thought his Doctor looked nervous as he spoke. Was it because Stone couldn’t stop smiling at him?

“Well?!”

“Yes, my Doctor.”

“Stop that.”

“Come home sooner and stop me, Ivo.” Stone smiled, leaning back in the chair and toeing the floor to rock the chair from side to side. Judging by the flush on Ivo’s face, and the screech of indignation, he wasn’t ready to hear the obvious. So the agent chose to work up to that.

He won’t bite his tongue anymore, stopping himself from showing he cared about his Doctor. But he’ll save the sweet nothings for when they were together again.

“Stone! Get to work! Gather all my tools and prepare for my arrival by Christmas. Get all of my things out of Uncle Sam’s grubby little fingers. And disinfect anything they touched!”

“Yes, my Doctor.” Stone kept his ears on Ivo’s continued instructions, even as his eyes drifted towards the desk calendar he had put up some time in August. Each and every day since that dreadful day in July carefully crossed off and counted. Stone will have a lot of bridges to burn in the 2 weeks until Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've heard about Stobotnik discord servers... currently trying to figure out if I should join them and where to join


End file.
